Loyola Academy 1909-1994 - Requiescat in Pace

A tribute to the old Loyola Academy; the way it used to be before it destroyed itself by going coed and bowing to political correctness, feminism, socialism and general candyassness(sorry, I know it's not a real word.) SHOULD IT REALLY BE CALLED LOYOLA? IT'S SIMPLY NOT THE SAME SCHOOL. PERHAPS WILMETTE PREP WOULD BE BETTER?

Saturday, August 23, 2008

I'm quite sure Father John Patrick Beall is looking down at his old school and saying to himself, "What in the hell is going on there?"

Yes, it's true you can now take Dance classes for academic credit at Loyola Academy, aka Wilmette Prep.

The thought of dance being taught at the OLD and REAL LOYOLA ACADEMY would have been absurd. But, in today's world of sensitivity and academic Marxism, little Johnny and Susie Loyola have to be catered to as if they were guests in a five star hotel.

Okay, I know what you're thinking...John O'Hara is just making this all up. Sorry, I wish I was. This is straight from the Loyola website.

"Dance Company B introduces students to the art of choreography and performance. Students create and perform their own works while learning and developing skills in movement choreography. Students are introduced to the technical aspects of creating a performance, this includes but is not limited to: music, lighting, costumes, programs, and budget."

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Whatever happened to the Loyola Walk? We all remember walking the 15 grueling miles while being harangued by faculty and coaches who ordered us to press on at all costs. It was Loyola's version of the Bataan Death March, while all in good fun to raise money for those nebulous and ubiquitous missions somewhere in the Jesuit world.

Too bad current day Ramblers can't experience this autumn right-of-passage.

Then again, think of the potential lawsuits when little Johnny or Susie complains of bunions, blisters, sprained ankles and hanging toenails.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Thanks for adding a comment and sorry you never had the opportunity to experience the old Loyola buddy.

Hey, man. I go to Loyola Academy currently. I am fed up with the liberal status quo. I completely agree with your article, but the problem is so much deeper. They are practically preaching liberation theology.

Just happened to come across this blog. I am a 1978 grad of LA and agree that co-education was the worst thing to happen to LA. I have begun to read some or your posts and I had no idea things were this bad. I wondered why so many of my classmates were not donating to LA -now I know. I am living out West (MT) so I am out of the loop. Billy Murray was a good friend and was my cousin Andy's roommate at Regis College in Denver.

You had a list of some of the famous sayings of Fr. Burrell and other Jesuit/taching faculty

Fr. Burrell - "I know what you do - you give a girl a Butterfinger (candy bar) and take her in the bushes thats what you do

"Don't sit in your room masturbating all day"

We had a black classmate (Leon who was a good friend of mine prior to attendng LA). Fr. would tell him "son God gave you special tendons in your ankles so that you can jump higher and run faster than the rest of us" O foucrse Leon wanted to curl up in a ball and die.

I recall the "how do you want me to kick you ass" from Mr. Kingsbury. I also recall that when he would talk about his weekend with his "girlfriend" that this would elict guffaws from all of us and would cause him to get very pissed off.

I recall Mr. Schurz coming in hung over repeatedly for Spanish class and smoking in the classreoom during class (filterless Camels if I recall corretly). Think of the lawsuits if that happened today. I also recall him coldcocking a mouthy classmate who was copletely out of line.

I recall being slammed against the lockers by Father Bell for doing something stupid

I remember JUG

I remember Coach Monforti and his pathological fear of germs. I also recall him asking me when I was going to get my should length hair cut. When I replied "I don't know" he walked to his desk, grabbed some scissors and told me point blank "I do"

I recall the yellow Speedos that Coach Stelnicki made us wear in the 50 degree water - also the windows were opened in the pool area in the dead of winter when it was -20 out.

I remember the hellish heat and humidity of the locker rooms as well and the ever present sweat/stench

I remember the smoking fence along the Edens Highway

I remember the dances in the gym and the great local bands that performed that later became national/international acts.

May 5, 2008:Milt talks with Sol Stern of the City Journal, Ed Lasky of the American Thinker, and Herb Walberg of the Hoover Institute, about the attempted radicalization of the education system. Milt and his guests also discuss Bill Ayers, who has been at the forefront of the radicalization effort. (5/5/2008)WGN 720

Sorry for the lengthy absence. The one-man staff of LARIP (me, John O'Hara) has returned from summer break, to provide more information about the PC take-over of Loyola Academy and America's schools in general.

A great article about the legendary Coach Frank Ward who was run out of Lake Forest Country Day School over twenty years ago by a clique of whining, sniveling PC parents who didn't like his tough discipline and Vince Lombardi style.

“If you take a group of 25 boys now, there might be six or seven of what I call real tomboys compared to back then, if you had a class of 25, you’d have 22 of them who were tough, they were boys,” he said.

There’s growing concern among educators, psychologists and others who share Mr. Carneal’s feelings, that we may be feminizing our boys. There’s a feeling that society is trying to bleach out gender differences in the name of sexual equality.

We expect boys today to abandon the manly stoicism of yesteryear in exchange for expressing their feelings. We tell them not to fight the bully but join hands with him in conflict mediation class.

Don’t fight, don’t run and be quiet or you might get diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and put on medication.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

This article was written by my friend, the late Colonel David Hackworth, back in 2001. It is a scathing indictment of the insane feminization of the military. Just as feminization and political correctness have destroyed the military, this same mindset is wreaking havoc on Catholic schools.

This information is not complete yet, but I find it interesting that both Jesuit schools found it necessary to break tradition and go coed.

I have heard the excuse "demographics" used countless times as to why Loyola Academy, aka Wilmette Prep, went coed. With a population increase in the USA of 50 million in the last 25 years and many of those people Catholics, the demographic argument is a load of hogwash.

We all know the real reasons for the coed merged at Loyola: militant feminism and political correctness.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Like hundreds of formerly all-boys school in the USA, Loyola Academy has been castrated. What was initially a plan to bring two schools together(for the most nebulous of reasons) has obviously developed into a plan to completely cater to girls.

Where Have the Men Gone? No Place Good

By Michael Gurian

In the 1990s, I taught for six years at a small liberal arts college in Spokane, Wash. In my third year, I started noticing something that was happening right in front of me. There were more young women in my classes than young men, and on average, they were getting better grades than the guys. Many of the young men stared blankly at me as I lectured. They didn't take notes as well as the young women. They didn't seem to care as much about what I taught -- literature, writing and psychology. They were bright kids, but many of their faces said, "Sitting here, listening, staring at these words -- this is not really who I am."

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Read John R. Powers' classic novel, Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?For Ramblers now attending Loyola Academy who believe that their current existence is the way it always was - THINK AGAIN.

Book DescriptionJohn Powers' classic comic novel of the 1960s Catholic subculture stars Eddie Ryan, a Chicago boy who learns about the important questions in life in his years at an all-boys Catholic school on Chicago's South Side. He views it all through the prism of his Catholic mentality, which often deepens the mystery but sometimes clarifies it.

About the AuthorJohn R. Powers has written three other novels: The Last Catholic in America, The Unoriginal Sinner and the Ice Cream God and The Junk-Drawers Corner-Store Front-Porch Blues. He lives in Wisconsin.Amazon

Right next to them are the number of male lay teachers. With the number of male teachers at a 40 year low, today's kids are in an environment without the legends that haunted the halls of the OLD LOYOLA ACADEMY.

What's the solution? Hire more women to teach young men. There's nothing more distracting than a 25 year old woman teaching a 16 year old boy. IT DOES NOT WORK, irregardless of all the smoke and mirrors power point presentations Loyola Academy uses at conferences.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Take a look at the Loyola Academy Online Brochure. Except for the same school colors and some irreverant remarks about "Ramblers" you would never know this was the same school we attended. As I have mentioned before, LET'S STOP THE CHARADE LOYOLA, CALL YOURSELF WILMETTE PREP. That's a better name.

My personal favorite is the Loyola Academy Dance Company with its two dance studios.

I'm making a prediction that the next thing will be a nursery for "Little Ramblers" and maybe classes in fashion design.

These two stories concern one of Loyola Academy's favorite sons, Bill Murray.

"One afternoon after school, several priests and teachers noticed that there was a gigantic line behind Bill Murray's car, parked in front over by the football field. The trunk was up and something was amiss. After further investigation, it was discovered that Bill Murray was selling beer to thirsty Ramblers from two kegs inside his trunk. The "Tailgate Party" was quickly broken-up and Murray was given a severe JUG sentence."

"Bill Murray struck again during the opening proceedings of his graduation. He appeared in the standard white tuxedo jacket minus a white shirt and bowtie. Instead, Bill was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and gold chain. The ceremony was held up thirty minutes until he went home and changed into the required outfit to graduate."

Researchers at the University of Michigan compared graduates of Catholic single-sex high schools with graduates of Catholic coeducational private schools. Boys in the single-sex high schools scored better in reading, writing, and math than did boys at coed high schools. Girls at the single-sex schools did better in science and reading than girls in coed schools. In fact, these researchers found that students at single-sex schools had not only superior academic achievement, but also had higher educational aspirations, more confidence in their abilities, and a more positive attitude toward academics, than did students at coed high schools. And, girls at the single-sex schools had less stereotyped ideas about what women can and cannot do.

This new blog is a tribute to the OLD Loyola Academy that we knew and loved. This is the Loyola Academy where Father Beall wielded a paddle called "Big Red", Coach Stelnicki maintained the pool at a warm 60 degrees, where Father Arimond's voice boomed through the halls like a cannon, where Father Brophy bounced you off of a locker like a rubber ball, where you never had a snow day, where JUG was truly Justice Under God.

"So, as Freshmen in PE we were constantly used as human tackling dummies, mats, and B-Ball boards by the PE Staff and Sophomores who informed us that we were no higher on the Loyola Food Chain than the garbage they were throwing away outside.

Coach Erlenbaugh created a game called "Matball." Basically, it was soccer played on your knees. There were no rules except to score and the Sophomores were always pitted against the Freshmen. Well, it wouldn't take more than five minutes before fists were swinging, noses were bleeding and ankles were sprained. The worst thing that would happen would be to lose because the losers were forced to run ten laps around the gym before showering.

We all limped back to class with bruises and smiles. Somehow, it was all good, clean fun - Loyola style. I doubt that Matball is in the Loyola Academy curriculum in 2008.

In the end, it was the little things like that which toughened you up and enabled you to endure the academic rigors. There was a definite method to the madness."

We know these kinds of things don't happen anymore at the New PC Loyola, aka Wilmette Prep.

If they did, Johnny or Susie would be on speed dial to their lawyer.

A friend of mine who graduated from Loyola back in 1974, added some memories for all of us...

On a lighter note, how about my brother’s indoctrination to Loyola/Fr Beall. On the first day of class his freshman year he and a friend were walking down the hall talking, the next thing he knew he was bouncing off the lockers and looked over to see his friend bouncing of the lockers on the other side of the hall, then Fr Beall reminded them “ Gentlemen, we do not talk in the halls of Loyola Academy”

Or how can one forget gym class with coach Spoo, who made you do “ dress right dress” so he could inspect the class to make sure everyone was in correct and complete gym uniforms. One guy next to me, Mike Byrne, had a smile on his face, Spoo said “ Mr Byrne, what is so funny?” to which Byrne replied “nothing coach”, the next thing you saw was Spoo’s hand come out of nowhere and hit Byrne on the side of his head sending him crashing into the folded up bleachers in the gym.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Feminist activists and government agencies are savvy marketers of their program. Sommers tells of attending workshops where elementary school teachers were instructed about "gender-neutralizing" co-ed classrooms. But what if parents object? The teachers were advised to respond to criticism by referencing the findings of unspecified "research," since the public usually is deferential to science. And those adults who persist in their skepticism about feminism should be smeared as resembling Holocaust deniers. This is how feminism responds to its critics.

Gender Politics in the Classroom

Gender crusaders believe that if they can influence little boys early enough, they can make them more like little girls. Feminist philosopher Sandra Lee Bartky writes that human beings are born bisexual and through conditioning are "transformed into male and female gender personalities."{15} William Pollack, a Harvard psychologist, argues that by doing away with traditional male stereotypes the next generation of boys "will be able to safely stay in the doll corner as long as they wish, without being taunted."{16} Age appropriate doll playing by boys is not a problem. Yet it becomes one when it is the center of an attempt to redefine what it means to be male.

The Department of Education supported the writing of a model curriculum for day care providers called Creating Sex-Fair Family Day Care.{17} It seems that the main goal of the curriculum is, again, to get boys to play with dolls. Of its ten photographs, two are of boys with dolls. Instructors are warned to "avoid highly feminine dolls such as Barbie or highly masculine dolls such as G.I. Joe."{18} They also urge instructors to monitor the children's fantasy play. If gender stereotypes are acted out, adults should be ready to intervene. According to the authors, without gender neutral child rearing, "we cannot fulfill our dreams of equality for all people."{19}

How do boys fit into the "tragedy" of America's "shortchanged" girls? Inevitably, boys are resented, being seen both as the unfairly privileged gender and as obstacles on the path to gender justice for girls. There is an understandable dialectic: the more girls are portrayed as diminished, the more boys are regarded as needing to be taken down a notch and reduced in importance. This perspective on boys and girls is promoted in schools of education, and many a teacher now feels that girls need and deserve special indemnifying consideration. "It is really clear that boys are no. 1 in this society and in most of the world," says Dr. Patricia O'Reilly, professor of education and director of the Gender Equity Center at the University of Cincinnati.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

I taught history and economics at a Catholic high school. It was not a Jesuit high school, but nevertheless a high school deemed very good by national standards.

My two years there were an eye opener to how low secondary education and indeed Catholic education have sunk.

To begin with, ALL standards have disappeared; academic and disciplinary. Today's Catholic high school students cannot handle the pressure of three or four hours of homework a night, combined with the added stress of being yelled at, or worse, if they fail to measure up or in fact goof around.

Most teachers are afraid to challenge the system because they fear for their jobs, or indeed have jumped on the new kinder-gentler bandwagon themselves. Only a small minority of the old guard remain and they are being asked to retire or leave the profession.

Sadly, the teachers and administrators in our nation's Catholic schools and most importantly Jesuit schools(including present day Loyola Academy) believe that the new style of Catholic education is working.

It's working alright - to create a whole generation of young adults who are coddled, think they're special, feel that everyone is always a winner and will attempt to sue you if you hurt their feelings.

In conclusion, the present-day students at Loyola Academy wouldn't last one day at the old Loyola, much less at the Loyola Academy ruled by Father Arimond, or even during earlier times..

Here's an article from 1992. It seems to me that Loyola always had a lot of money, thanks to Father Reuter and his fund-raising ideas. So, the question remains - WHY DID LOYOLA FEEL IT WAS NECESSARY TO SAVE MARILLAC FROM BANKRUPTCY?

Monday, June 16, 2008

I first heard that Loyola was going coed back in 1993. My reaction then was a combination of complete bewilderment and outright indignation. Loyola had obviously conformed to the trend of political correctness in our nation's schools and decided to wreck decades of tradition in one fell swoop.

In 2008, Loyola Academy might say that it's the same school we went to, but who are they really fooling? One look at their brochure online and you instantly realize that the school has been transformed from a pressure cooker into a kinder, gentler, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.

Sadly, the students who have attended Loyola from 1994 until now, probably believe that they are experiencing the same type of Jesuit education their older brothers, fathers and grandfathers had. They couldn't be farther from the truth.

If Loyola was honest with itself, it would change its name and truly be what it really is now - just another coed private high school.

This new blog is a tribute to the OLD Loyola Academy that we knew and loved. This is the Loyola Academy where Father Beall wielded a paddle called "Big Red", Coach Stelnicki maintained the pool at a warm 60 degrees, where Father Arimond's voice boomed through the halls like a cannon, where Father Brophy bounced you off of a locker like a rubber ball, where you never had a snow day, where JUG was truly Justice Under God.